The Artist
by finalfantasygirl16
Summary: He's a bad boy with an attitude. Body covered in sin. I'm a good girl. Why am I drawn to this place? Why here, why me, why him?


HAPPY 2014! Three months into this new year and it's almost my birthday and I haven't updated a single story yet… but… uhh… yeah… HAPPY 2014!

I'll update stories soon but for now I didn't want this story idea to fade into the abyss of nothingness so yeah my boy-crazy friend posted a status update a while back ago on FB that got me thinking and so here I am with yet another Vani/Xion story! Yatta! I love this couple so much! GIVE THEM MORE LOVE PEOPLE! I'm talking to all you awesome writers out there!

Anyways, happy reading!

Summary: He's a bad boy with an attitude. Body covered in sin. I'm a good girl. Why am I drawn to this place? Why here, why me, why him?

The Artist

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The Attraction

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"Show me a man with a tattoo and I'll show you a man with an interesting past."  
― Jack London

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"WHERE'S THE MONEY?!" an echoing voice demanded in the grim depths of an alleyway.

"Heh. Like I'll tell you morons" panted a young man, squeezing his eyes in pain.

"The boss wants his money, Vanitas. You're running out of time" the knife sunk in deeper, coated in crimson, flowing and absorbing into dark clothes.

"Ahh!" a howled yelp escaped his cold chap lips. "Haa… I… argh… don't… ahh… have… haa… it!" the young man winced aching to soothe his wound but the man holding him against the brick wall wouldn't allow him. "You have until the end of this month" the man warned, the moonlight of the cold dark night illuminating the alleyway. Long strands of silver hair swayed as the taller man walked out of the alleyway. The sound of a car door slamming and an engine driving off were the only sounds in the grave empty night.

The young man slid down the bumpy cold brick wall sitting on the floor. Pressing his hand tightly against the side of his torso, his hand shook as he tried to calm his breathing. He so badly wanted to grit his teeth and curl his hands into tight fists.

He wanted to be mad. He wanted to be free.

Laughter.

He remembered the laughter of females, the wind carrying their mumble of words and giggles. Coughing, he urged his body to force itself up. He couldn't afford to have someone find him and ask if he needed any help – that was the last thing he needed. No hospitals and no curious eyes.

With weak shaky knees, he made his way out of the alleyway staggering as he braced himself for the long walk home. Tightly holding his wounded side, Vanitas gripped onto his skin and loose material of his hoodie desperately trying to hold both entities together to stop from bleeding to death.

Vanitas groaned as he pulled the hoodie over his black spiked hair using his free hand as he made his way onto the main road. He just had to keep his mouth shut and not howl in pain as he passed by the group of girls in their sparkly club dresses.

A short pale girl with bright red lips in a short black one sleeve dress giggled with her friends, the multiple silver bracelets on her tiny wrists jingled as she walked with one hand holding a bright red clutch purse. She paid no attention to the staggering man wearing a dark navy blue hoodie. Her group of friends passed him by as his head was downcast and painstakingly making his way around the corner. She briefly paused as her group walked on when she saw the dark drips of blood.

"Xion! C'mon girl! Hurry up!" a friend called out, waving for the short girl with short black hair.

Tilting her head, Xion frowned, concerned for the stranger clouding her mind as she ignored it. She didn't know if he was into drugs, selling them, or if some injustice was done to him. She didn't know and her mind told her to let it be while her heart felt uneasy sadness.

Blurry vision and an immense need to sleep filled him. He mentally thanked his body for the adrenaline boost where he soon started not to feel any pain but as he neared his safe haven – the pain was starting to appear again. He couldn't let the tears come down, he wasn't some pushover or some crybaby. The pain he felt was like a thousand hell fires but he sucked it up.

"_Be a man, Vanitas" _He quietly chanted to himself as he reached the front step of his home and struggled to find his house keys. Once he found them, he opened the door and went inside. The house was dark and silent – he bit his inner cheek to stop himself from groaning in pain. He couldn't wake up his little brother. He didn't want his little brother knowing that he wasn't completely free from owing _that _jerk money. He had a gambling problem in the past and he didn't feel like hearing his little brother lecture him about it while helping him bandage up his wound.

He knew he was stupid back then but he was only human. He wasn't perfect – far from it.

Vanitas slowly made his way upstairs and into his room – the master bedroom. Stripping away his clothes leaving it all in a trail, he sluggishly entered the bathroom and turned the knobs of the shower.

Tense muscles and steaming water. Blood and water mixing as it washed his sins away. Cruel punishment for not having the money he owned. He was so clouded by quick ambition and obsessed with the want to provide for his family that he spiraled down an addiction. Spiked black hair losing its lift as the water sprayed down his neck. Hard hands turned into fists against the black and white checkered tile wall. Vanitas gritted his teeth and lowly growled as the hot water ran down his pale toned body and seeped into the slowly healing crevices of his opened wound. He pounded his fists against the tile as he rested his forehead against the cool tile wall. He needed to stitch himself up and indulge in a cocktail of pain killers and sleeping pills.

Vanitas stood in front of his bathroom's mirror, damp hair dripping water drops on his gray sweats pants. Flicking the cigarette lighter, he ran a thin sewing needle against the bright flames preparing it for what he was about to do. He was no doctor and he sure as hell did not know what he was doing but he took the black thread and looped it around the needle. Splashing half the bottle of rubbing alcohol on his wound he deeply inhaled and pierced his opened wound with a gargled cry of pain.

Leaving the bathroom in a bloody mess, Vanitas took a handful of pain killers and sleeping pills from the medicine cabinet. Not caring if he took more than the recommended dosage, he knew he wouldn't die.

He was too stubborn to die.

Heavy body dropped like a dead carcass, the soft cold mattress soothed his aches as sleep took over. He was dead to the world and didn't care if his snoring woke up his little brother.

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"Geez, what died in here?" a hand picked up a tattoo magazine covered in melted cheese next to a box of day old pizza.

"My hopes and dreams. What are you doing here? Don't you have school?" a smirking smile asked as Vanitas crossed his arms and leaned against the counter.

"Nah, didn't feel like going today" he tossed the rotting magazine in the trash can and sat down on a plush red velvet couch.

"My, my. Isn't my little brother supposed to be better than me?" Vanitas teased as he played around with his snake bites.

"I have a prettier name, S-o-r-a" he stuck out his tongue and scratched his ear lightly flicking the black ear cuffs and gauge.

"Whatever, loser" Vanitas threw him a white towel, "Help me out today in the shop since you're ditching anyway"

"Okay" Sora smiled and set up his space.

Vanitas smirked and stood around instructing Sora on what to do. He was careful on not showing how much pain he was in. He woke up feeling like a boulder landed on his chest after being ran over by a bulldozer a couple of times. Sure the knife didn't hit anything vital but it was still a long cut. Despite being wounded, he was just glad that he decided not to wear his usual piercings that night. He knew that, _that _jerk had a thing for pain and torture and could have done a lot worse if he had any of his piercings on that night.

He didn't really feel like wearing them today but in order to appear fine and like his usual self – a person who seemed to not have a single care in the world – he had to dress himself up and pretend normalcy. In the mirror, Vanitas saw his usual punkish self. Black snake bites on lower lips, silver eyebrow piercing on the right side, red tongue piercing, and silver industrial arrow piercings on both ears with two silver studs and black gauges that were a size bigger than Sora's. All Sora wore were small black gauges and cuffs and when he felt like it, he'd wear his silver eyebrow piercing on his left side.

Vanitas and Sora were brothers. They were like yin and yang but their only difference was Sora's innocence. Vanitas wouldn't allow Sora to lose sight of his innocent side. It was already too late for him, he wouldn't allow his little brother to drown in sin. The irony of working as a tattoo artist – Vanitas was hugged by sin, dirtied by it, and embraced each etching on his skin. Sora worked as an apprentice but Vanitas wouldn't allow him to get a tattoo – he wanted to keep Sora as pure and white as porcelain.

"Hey, Vani, stop staring at yourself. We all know that you're pretty… ugly, so hurry up and set up your area. You know how the female clientele always asks for you" Sora crossed his arms and tilted his head towards the red metallic clock on the wall.

Vanitas couldn't tell him that he couldn't sit down, it hurt too much and he was sure that his wound would start to bleed again. He woke up in a small soaked puddle of blood on his bed so when he was getting ready, he made sure to use up all the gauze wrap he had in the house. "I'm not working today, there's you and that girlfriend of yours plus Terra and Ven"

Sora rolled his eyes and shrugged, "Lazy ass"

Vanitas flipped him off and ran off to the restroom to check the gauze wrapped around his torso. He would kill for some pain meds but he forgot them at home. Making a mental note, he made sure to remind himself to buy more pills to have at the shop. Unbuttoning his black shirt, the white gauze was stained in red but it wasn't a problem for the time being.

Vanitas sighed and buttoned up his shirt again, he needed a smoke.

Taking a cigarette he lit it up and took in a long drag, leaning against the wall he faced the entrance where everyone was either setting up their work areas or working on clients that came in earlier. Sora was sitting on the red couch with his girlfriend Kairi on his lap. Her overly exaggerated giggles and teased hair that created layers of volume – it annoyed him greatly and he just couldn't stand her but then again he couldn't stand women.

He was desirable and attractive but old wounds left him bitter like the taste of tobacco.

Vanitas' longtime friend Terra was finishing up his girlfriend's Aqua's tattoo. She too was giggling and trying not to move too much as he worked. Seeing couples and mocking them almost made Vanitas forget the pain he was feeling – almost.

"Being dark and brooding, I see" a voice chuckled and leaned against the wall right next to Vanitas. Taking a cigarette of his own, he placed it in front of Vanitas for him to light up.

"Not feeling good" Vanitas replied simply.

"Are you on your man period again?" he laughed, pointing with the lit cigarette to Sora and Terra with their significant others.

"It's never going to be that, Ven"

"So tell your favorite partner in crime what's eating you up"

"I don't have to tell you everything, you know"

"Sure you don't. We're cousins aren't we?"

"It's mandatory that I have to like you"

"Are you finally confessing to me?"

"If we both liked men then maybe. You'd be my first choice" Vanitas winked at him.

"I love you too" Ven blew him a kiss with the smoke of the cigarette.

They both laughed and enjoyed their little moment together. They enjoyed messing with each other just as much as getting into trouble together. They were the same age and cousins – Vanitas felt like Ven was the only person that would understand his current predicament seeing as he too had a gambling problem as well.

"So the old bastard sent his son to do his bidding, eh?" Ven asked.

"Yeah and it hurt like a bitch" Vanitas gently rubbed his torso.

"How much do you still owe?"

"Fifty thousand munny. That's taxes and interest rate included"

"Ouch. Have you considered going back to… you know…. your old job?"

"Selling myself is my last resort. My dad left my mom in a huge debt, I only did what I could to help out. I'm not proud of it but I've done a pretty good job of keeping it from Sora"

"That guy has some nerve you know? First your dad and now you. Even if we did get addicted to gambling and got trapped in _his_ web, _he _already had you from the beginning"

Vanitas sighed, "I know, Ven, I know. I have a month left"

"Then what?"

"What do you mean, 'then what'" Vanitas glanced over Ven's direction and gritted his teeth, "Then I die. I'm done for if I can't get the money. I can't ask you guys for it, especially you. It took you five years just to get the twenty thousand you owed _him_. Sora's seventeen, he can take care of himself but it'll still feel like I left him as an orphan if I were to die next month"

"You still have your mom, you know"

"She's in a mental ward"

"Dude, she moved to Twilight Town. That's hardly a mental ward" Ven rolled his eyes.

"We did have some pretty wild times there, didn't we?" Vanitas chuckled as he put out his cigarette and closed his piercing golden eyes. "She moved so she could forget Destiny Island and my old man is a coward in hiding"

"Better than my dad, he's too involved in my life. Cut me some slack, dad!" Ven shook his head.

"Hey, I like your dad" Vanitas whispered, eyes closed as Ven stared at him for a brief moment, "Dude, he caught me having sex" Ven whined, "I can't even have any privacy with Olette!"

Vanitas growled at the name. He hated Olette more than he did Kairi.

He was the only single one in the group – by choice.

"So? Better to get that leech off of you, besides, two words: move out"

"Olette isn't a leech! My old man won't let me move out, that's the thing"

"Can I take your place instead? I'll dye my hair a stupid shade of blond and act as dorky as you. You can move in with Sora as long as you sleep on the couch"

"Hey, why do I get the couch? You have the master bedroom!"

"Did I fail to mention? The master bedroom is now the guest bedroom reserved for only me and me alone"

"You're such an ass. Why don't you just marry my dad?" Ven nudged him with his elbow.

Vanitas slowly opened his eyes and chuckled, "You know what, I think I will. We'll have hot gay sex and make you jealous while you're with that tramp. I'll make you beg and whimper for me every night while you're in the arms of another"

"If Olette is the tramp then I'm the lady!" Ven stuck out his tongue, blue tongue piercing shining. "You drive a hard bargain. I don't know whether to ship you with my dad or us together"

"You wouldn't last ten minutes with me" Vanitas said, serious and confident as ever.

"I could make out with you right about now, stop making me feel all hot and bothered" Ven closed his eyes and puckered his lips.

Vanitas smirked and leaned in, facing him. His lips lightly brushing against Ven's, "Touché, Ven. Stop being so damn cute" he whispered and quickly pecked his cousin's forehead. Vanitas ruffled Ven's hair before walking away chuckling.

"Stop daydreaming over there, Ven! Roxas is here!" Terra shouted.

Ven chuckled and finished his cigarette. "Coming!"

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"See you tomorrow, my love!" Ven waved with two fingers holding a cigarette.

Terra and the others were long gone, leaving Vanitas with the job to close up. "Don't cheat on me now, Ven" Vanitas smirked, "Remember that you're mine for the day tomorrow"

"Yeah I know, I don't have plans with Olette tomorrow. We're going to go check out the competition, right?"

"Besides planning world domination, yeah that's the only thing I have planned" Vanitas nodded.

"Sweet. Yeah, I'll be here early then dude" Ven smiled and walked out of the tattoo parlor.

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Heavy panting caused by heavy breathing filled his heavy lungs as he slumped down on the ground and grasped tightly onto the bleeding wound. He was fine hours ago and now he spiraled down to pain and a high fever. He couldn't let Sora see him like this, he'd take him to the hospital for sure. Vanitas made sure to 'sober' up before leaving. He didn't want to deal with the emergency room.

Hearing the ding of the entrance's little bell, Vanitas slapped his face cursing to himself. Forgetting to lock up, he weakly got up from the floor. Taking off his shirt, he didn't care if he was bare chested with a gauze wrap around his torso. He didn't care if some stranger saw him in his current condition.

"We're… closed" Vanitas groaned as he willed his body to lean against the wall.

A short pale girl with short black hair meekly nodded her head, "S-S-Sorry! I'll come back another day!"

Vanitas stared at her, she had big deep blue eyes and pale rosy lips. Her hair was adorned with a black flower clip and she was wearing a black tank top and a dark blue jean skirt. "If you have a question… I can answer it but we're closed for any commissions" he told her as she smiled and nodded her head again.

Licking her lips to remoisten them, she rummaged through her bright blue messenger bag and took out a piece of white paper. "I'd like a tattoo of a dragon but I'm not a very good artist and I haven't found any artist's work that I'd like permanently on my back. I was wondering if you could come up with something for me?" she asked as he slowly walked to her, trying not show any pain and took the paper from her. "I'm Xion by the way. I hope that you can bring my vision to life"

"Just a dragon?" he asked.

"Yes, well…. I'd like it to be personal" she frowned and twirled a strand of short black hair.

"That's impossible" he simply told her and gave her the blank paper back.

"Why is that?" hope filled her voice but then she noticed the white gauze soaked in blood around his torso. She gasped, "You're bleeding!" she covered her mouth with one hand and rummaged in her bag for something to give him, anything for the bleeding. She was so stupid, here she was – talking to a man, a tattoo artist for nearly five minutes and failed to notice his bare chest and the blood stained white gauze wrapped around his torso. It reminded her of that night she passed by a tall hooded man that was bleeding down the street.

Maybe… they were the same person?

"For a tattoo done by a tattoo artist to be personal – they would have to get to know you. A tattoo is permanent ink on skin. If you want it to tell a story – your story, then I can't help you unless I get to know you" Vanitas explained, if she had her own drawing then he could easily get the job done but asking him for a drawing made by him – he didn't just draw for anyone. "Don't worry about my bleeding… I'm fine" he said as he unhooked the wrapping and took off the gauze to see just how much damage was done.

The long cut on his left side was held together by his poor attempt at stitching it up with black thread. He frowned more due to the fact that the cut was on the unversed heart tattoo he had there. He would probably have to fix it up once he was better but there was nothing he could do for now but wait for the wound to heal.

His body was like a canvas covered in sin, all stories of his life etched into flesh. He didn't have many tattoos but the ones he did have were all very special and meaningful to him. An unversed heart on his left hip bone and another over his own heart and the biggest tattoo was a black and red angry dragon with flames on his back. He only had three tattoos but he didn't need any more for the time being. All three had their own story, both hearts he did himself but the back tattoo – that took time and effort and different hands helped him out with that one. His friends were like his family; his friends, cousin, and little brother all worked countless of hours on it but besides the work time put into it – it had its own story.

"Hey! You have a dragon tattoo! Did you draw that yourself?" Xion enthusiastically asked as she circled around him and carefully examined the details as she was careful not to touch him. He told her not to worry about his bleeding wound and that was exactly what she was going to do. She just met him and didn't want to upset or anger him in any way.

"Yeah I did" He smirked and crossed his arms, the muscles on his back tensed making the dragon shift and animated for a brief moment.

"This is really beautiful work!" she complimented as she took in a deep breath and let it out. "I'd really like to get to know you. I've decided that I want you to personally draw my tattoo!"

Vanitas had to chuckle at that, she seemed so shy but she was a spitfire for sure. "And who said that I'll agree? You don't even know my name"

Puffing up her cheeks, she lightly balled up her hands into tiny weak fists and turned to face him, "Then tell me your name! Please!"

"Cheeky now aren't you?" he teased as he enjoyed seeing her soft pale face quickly turn a shade of bright red.

"Please… tell me your name" she begged.

"Vanitas" he simply said and walked over to a cabinet to take a box of tissues out.

"Interesting name"

"So is yours"

"So will you agree?"

"Hmm… I'm currently out of commission due to this damn cut but I'll think about it"

"C'mon! Please!" Xion clasped her hands together and pleaded, "I'll bake you cookies!"

"Oh, wonderful. I've gained a doting grandmother, please don't pinch my cheeks too tightly!" Vanitas sarcastically replied in a high pitched tone failing to sound feminine at all.

"This is sarcasm, right? Okay! I think I can deal with that!" Xion smiled and nodded. She didn't know why but she found him interesting, he was pretty funny. Not a guy of many words but funny.

"Get used to it babe" Vanitas said as he cleaned up the blood on the wound. Throwing away the dirtied tissues into the trash can, he leaned against the counter and sighed. "Look, this was great and all and it was nice meeting you and all that crap but come back tomorrow during the day. I need to close up now and get home to deal with this cut"

"Oh! Right! Sorry to keep you here, I'll come back tomorrow. Hey, thanks for hearing me out" Xion nibbled on her bottom lip and debated if she should wave goodbye to him or shake his hand or do something. She's never been around a tattoo artist before, he looked like a bad boy but she didn't think he was so bad.

Walking out towards the entrance of the parlor, Xion paused before twisting the knob, "Wait, I forgot to tell you something"

"What?" Vanitas asked her as he stood closer to her.

"I want you to promise. Promise me that you won't try to sexually harass me"

"You mean, like this?" he said as he lightly pushed her against the back of the entrance's door. He lowly growled and caged her into his body, holding her small hands up by her wrists over her head. "What if I'm the biggest pervert you've ever met?" he asked as he ran the tip of his cold nose over the crook of her neck up towards her jaw. His black spiky hair was surprisingly soft and lightly tickled her rather than pricked her sensitive skin. "You're requesting a back tattoo done by me, for that your back will be exposed to me. You'd be braless, how do you know that I won't take advantage?" he whispered against her lips. Piercing golden eyes stared intently into surprised deep blue eyes.

"Your contacts are really pretty" she whispered back.

"They're not contacts" he told her very seriously.

Silence filled the room as the humming noise of the air conditioner kicked in. Vanitas chuckled and then full heartily laughed. He tried to calm himself down to avoid his wound from bleeding any further but he couldn't as he genuinely showed her a rare smile of his, "I'm sexually harassing you and all you have to say is that you think my 'contacts' are pretty? You're such a weirdo" he laughed again and let go of her.

Xion let out a breath that she didn't know that she was holding. He didn't scare her and he was probably just messing with her. She noticed that he liked to tease and be sarcastic. "I've never seen such golden eyes before" she crossed her arms over her chest, turned her head and ignored him. In her defense she wasn't about to blurt out that she was briefly mesmerized.

"And I've never seen a wolf disguised as an old lady in a bed before" he stuck out his tongue, revealing his red tongue piercing. "You can thank my old man for these eyes and both my parents for these highly desirable and attractive genes of mine"

Xion rolled her eyes. So he was a bit cocky and over confident.

She turned around and twisted the knob, half out the door, she laughed and said, "Your girlfriend must be the luckiest girl alive" sticking out her tongue out at him, she walked out.

"Don't have one!" he yelled out as she raised her hand out and gave him a thumbs up.

Vanitas chuckled and locked the door, "At least not yet" he whispered.

"Not yet"

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Done! To be continued!

I like how all the stories I originally plan to be One-shots all end up being longer than they were originally intended! Oh well, the more the better, right?

I mostly listened to a lot of the GazettE, Escape The Fate, and Falling In Reverse while writing this. Miyavi and G-Dragon were thrown into the mix as well.

So Vanitas has dug quite a big hole for himself. Fifty thousand munny! How on earth is he ever going to pay that within a month?

Love at first sarcastic remark? Love at first sight? How will Vanitas and Xion's relationship develop?

Will Ven and Vanitas ever make out with each other? Possibly not, unless they were paid a generous insane amount of munny. Cousins or not! LOL.

If it wasn't made clear - Vanitas is a very sinful person. Cynical, sarcastic, teasing, serious, quick to temper, piercings, tattoos, smokes, over confident, cocky, has sold himself/his body, has gambled and gotten himself into a big mess, etc. Really the list can go on and on but that's why we love him!

This fic will contain some dark elements and this different level of maturity but fear not - I'm a strictly Rated T author.

That may or may not be any good news to some of you. LOL. Trolololol.

What do you think will happen next?

Until next time!

I'll update Your Love Is My Drug whenever I figure out how to edit it and make it work out the way I want it to. Reapers will eventually get updated as well, I'm just debating on a few things for it.

Sora & Me may never see the light of an update ever again… for a very long time. Out of all my KH stories – it was my first official story for the KH archive but I feel like it has no direction even though I do love some things about it.

Anyways:

Remember to R&R! Plz & Thankies! :]

I don't own Vanitas, Xion, and all other characters used in this fic.

Kingdom Hearts is owned by Square Enix/Disney.

I just own this idea/plot/story/whatever you want to call it~ lol :P


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